Fokker XF-2 "Wesp" (1958)

[Paper Kosmonaut]

Hi folks, Paper Kosmonaut here. Because lots of you are of the styrene loving kind, I thought it would be nice to show you all how I make a paper model airplane. And of course this is a what-if. This here will be the Fokker FX-2 "Wesp" (Wasp) prototype from 1958. It was the first homemade supersonic jet in the New Dutch Republic. Story will follow in the end.

The original model is of course the XF-92A, originally in a 'bare metal' livery. The Fokker "Wasp" prototype livery was created in a nice standalone non-rental, on-my-old-computer-based Photoshop edition. One reason why I stopped upgrading that old 2013 MacbookPro because it still is really fast. Screw Adobe's ensh*ttification.

Anyway,  the original model was in 1/48 and that is not my favourite scale. I did a test build of the 1/48 print in one day and with that in mind, I reduced it and printed the three pages (twice, for the occasional screw-ups)  at 67% which brings the scale back to 1/72 or thereabout. My printer can't manage decimals, it actually should be 66.7% but who cares. I printed on 180 gram matte photo paper and got a fabulous crisp print in bright and sharp colours. I already decided to add some scratch built parts because the model looked quite simple and under-detailed. Besides that, the landing gear was very crude, especially for the original scale of 1/48. Also, the wings were not completely snugly fitting the fuselage, so I needed to take care of that too.

First, the fuselage. This model has glue tabs, and I do not like that. It leaves visible steps in the parts. So I revert to using glue strips I cut from scraps. I also cut loose the nose part for better handling the scratch building. When you are a little more experienced in paper modelling you know you can take such measures without compromising the integrity of the model. The best part in this build was that it was mostly fantasy, so I could take liberties in what to do and where to put stuff. Another part to improve the overall look of a paper model is to colour the edges of the cut paper parts. I use a range of watercolour pencils to do so. It really helps the look when you cannot see white edges any more.

Nose cone. I roll stuff with knitting needles on my thigh. Cylinders are literally straight forward, cones are done by letting the needle take a curved path like the hand of a clock. The paper was very easy to glue even though photo paper often is the hardest to glue because of the coatings.
I scratch built a separate nose inlet and created a cone for the intake. This is something the FX-92 didn't have but I like the aesthetics of it. Besides, it is useful. The inlet cone was placed on a piece of paper lollypop stick and the bottom of that was thickened with rolled-up paper strips for a solid base. The structure was placed and glued in the tube, the tube was placed in the cone. In the nose cone I also created a small scratchbuilt wheel well.for the nose gear to sit in. I usually do this by just eyeballing and sometimes a bit of measuring with calliper or ruler. I use white PVA glue as my main glue, sometimes I use CA for more stubborn parts or types of paper.

[Paper Kosmonaut]

Blimey, those images are large. And I even reduced the size. Oh well. they are not hosted on the forum anyway...

Where were we? Oh yes.

The fuselage is dead simple. Roll, glue strip inside, glue. (I first opened the wheel well doors, of course.)
I forgot to photograph the card construction I scratched for the main gear wheel wells but I compensated this by providing a drawing for you all. (-:

Then the construction of the main gear followed. I decided on welding wire for the legs, it's thin and easy. I am no purist in paper models, I just don't use plastic a lot. (only the occasional canopy or window).

[Paper Kosmonaut]

Installment three.

There goes the tail.

One piece, carefully folded over the leading edge. There's a nice little trick to this to avoid creases when folding which I'll show you later with the wings.
I made some air inlets from yellow card ( I have an abundance of coloured paper and other types of paper laying around for these purposes.)

The wings. How to avoid those creases: use a wetted Q-tip to slightly moisten the fold line and the paper will bend easily and then sets without leaving a crease.  Just bend the paper, don/t make a sharp fold. I often use knitting needles to get the approximate curvature I need.

The wings were stubborn in taking their place on the fuselage. The trailing edges are angled too steeply inward so there was a gap in the middle. I solved this by cutting off a little. the wings still didn't fit snugly so I took harsher measures and got the CA glue to force the trailing edge against the hull. That worked.

[PR19_Kit]

Large and invisible for those of us in the UK. :-(

[Paper Kosmonaut]

Large and invisible for those of us in the UK. :-(

I already was afraid of that... Let's see what i can change.

(I forgot that imgur isn't accessible in the UK. Sorry!)

[Paper Kosmonaut]

I reduced the photos in size even more and uploaded them to the forum. I hope it's viewable now!

Another change to the original model parts was the exhaust which I made from a piece of leftover metallic-coated card. It is very hard to glue due to its sturdiness but it gives a nice result.
The canopy was cut out without the glue tabs and formed by using loose strips on the inside. I use embossing tools and a chamois to get stuff curved and shaped in advance of glueing. The wheels were cut from thick cardboard with hollow punches, stacked, drilled and clad with the wheel rims and a strip of black paper for the treads.

[Paper Kosmonaut]

This model was built in one day. I gave it a good double clear coat of acrylic gloss UV-resistant coating. I have had too many models being bleached by sunlight even though I have the blinds closed in the room where I keep my models. Camouflaged models of course are done in matte coating and some stuff looks best in semi-gloss. I have it all.

So here is the Wasp.

Backstory!
A couple of weeks before the rollout of Fokker's interceptor jet "Wesp" prototype in 1958, the engineers decided they wanted to present the plane in a spectacular way. So the aircraft, which originally had a natural metallic finish was brought to the spray paint cabin at Schiphol and litres of yellow and black paint were ordered. The crowd gathered for the rollout was in awe and thought the livery was spectacular. Luckily, it featured on a couple of magazine covers that already were printed in colour in 1958, because the national newsreel films still all were in black and white. The test flights started the week after the presentation and were very promising. The Wasp easily got to Mach 2 and was agile, easy to handle and test pilots fought to fly her. When the Dutch government compared the production costs to some foreign competitors however, they decided the Wasp would be quite expensive. So unfortunately the only Wasp made remained the only Wasp. It was used by Fokker for some international promotion but to no avail and then was scrapped in the autumn of 1962.

[Gondor]

Stunning. Looks really nice.

A different type of Paper Wasp 

[PR19_Kit]

Wowee, that's AMAZING work.   

[frank2056]

Just amazing work, especially with the compound shapes. The color pattern reminds me of Chris Foss' SF space ships.

I have the utmost respect for paper modellers - all but the simplest models are beyond my capabilities.

[Rick Lowe]

Just amazing work, especially with the compound shapes. The color pattern reminds me of Chris Foss' SF space ships.

I have the utmost respect for paper modellers - all but the simplest models are beyond my capabilities.

Agree. 
I've made one or two, and they don't usually come out as well as I imagine they will... I'll leave that sort of skill to you, and stick with plastic (for the most part).   

[chrisonord]

That is really cool, and you say that you built it in one day... WOW!! 

[NARSES2]

Amazing work and fascinating to see the "stage by stage" shots   

[zenrat]

Awesome.  In the true sense of the word.  I dipped my toe in the paper model waters as a young person and nothing I made ever came close.